KJ Martin: "We Can Be What We Want To Be"

NC State defensive back KJ Martin recently met with the media to discuss his play in fall camp, his time in Raleigh, the upcoming season, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

On transferring to NC State…
I've been able to move on from my good mistakes and bad mistakes, you know what I'm saying, or good decisions, I should say, and bad mistakes. And now I'm here, I'm able to have different perspectives, different views, and how to react in certain situations, both on the field and off the field. 

What’s it been like playing against this offense at practice everyday?
Oh, man, Grayson. I ain't gonna lie, man, he might be one of the best quarterbacks I saw. Like, cerebral, like, a long time. Like, you know, I played against a few, like, Heisman Trophy winners, so, big ups to Grayson.  Yeah, he's the real deal.

On Grayson McCall and CJ Bailey…
Um, I don't know, man. It's just, he really takes care of the ball. Like, he, I don't, I don't really remember him throwing an interception this whole camp practice, you know, so, like, that's a big shout out to him. And as well as CJ Bailey, you know, the young guy, he's doing well, too. He can spin it. 

Who can this team be this year, do you believe?
We can be what we want to be. You know, it's really up to us. Only us can beat us.  That's how we feel. As you can see in a lot of football games, like, people capitalizing mistakes. It's not necessarily people making a lot of plays, so we just got to book it down on our job. And when the moment of truth comes, you got to be able to capitalize. 

This thing's getting close to where y'all going to be in game week mode. It's not that far away. How exciting is that? 
It's very exciting. College football has always been exciting. It's everyone's dream.  It's time to go all out.

Can you describe what it's like to go through the tunnel, touch the wolf, and then run out?
Honestly, I never had. It's been my first time, so I'm looking forward to it.

What do you think you'll feel?
Man, probably be like home, you know. Like, all these people coming out to see us play, it's definitely a blessing to be able to be at this level that we're in now. 

Are there times where you're like, okay, Coach Gibson's changed this way, but he sure hasn't changed that way?
Yeah, I mean, like, it's unfortunate I didn't really get to develop that relationship when I was at West Virginia. You know, I came into college early, January of 19, and that staff got fired like a week while I was there. So, you know, unfortunately he wasn't able to have that football relationship, be able to pick his brain and actually learn.

But everything is full circle. I'm here now, moving on from everything else.

Has practice become a grind yet? I know it seems like the first game is so far away. Is it a grind right now, or is Coach doing a good job of keeping things fresh for you?
I think everything is a grind, both on and off the field. You know, you've got to be cognizant of that, and the reason why we're here.

And how do you adjust to that? I mean, how do you keep it to where it doesn't, where you guys stand?
You remember your why. Why you do this game, why you play this game, whether it's family member, you know, et cetera. 

What's your why?
What's my why? 

Yes, sir.
God and my family, honestly. You know, that's what I do. That's my purpose.

Apologies if you've been asked this already. We talked to DK last week about learning kind of the ins and outs of this defense. You mentioned not all that much time with Coach Gibson. What's that experience been like with you, along with the fellow safeties like DK and Ja’had Carter?
As far as the learning of the defense? Oh, it hasn't been hard at all. You know, his defense is very simple, but we show a lot of different things. You really want to know from an offensive perspective exactly what we're showing.  And like I told him earlier, the learning curve hasn't really been that hard since we came. They've been very proactive in the installs and getting us up to speed. So shout out to the coaches for doing that. 

How much does it help? How much does your high school quarterback background help playing in the secondary?
A lot, actually. You know, I understand concepts and things of that nature as far as what the offense is trying to do to us. So I'm able to now use that cerebral on the defensive side and be able to play faster, depending on the things that the man's showing to me.